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KARNATAKA ICSE SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION

Class X - PREPARATORY EXAMINATION 2023
SUBJECT: ENGLISH LANGUAGE
(ENGLISH PAPER — 1)
Maximum Marks: 80

Time allowed. Two hours

Answers to this Paper must be written on the paper provided separately.

You will not be allowed to write during the first 15 minutes.
This time is to be spent in reading the question paper.
The time given at the head of this Paper is the time allowed for writing the answers.
__________________________________________________________________________
Attempt all five questions.
The intended marks for questions or parts of questions are given in brackets
You are advised to spend not more than 30 minutes in answering Question 1 and
20 minutes in answering Question 2.
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Question 1

(Do not spend more than 30 minutes on this question.)

Write a composition (300 - 350 words) on any one of the following: [20]

1. Write an original short story that begins with the line, ‘I was eating at a coffee shop
when I suddenly felt…….’
2. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes but they don’t quit. Recount a
time when you made mistakes and faced the challenge without giving up. How did it
affect you and what did you learn from the experience?
3. ‘Human being is consumed by consumerism.’
Express your views either for or against this statement.
4. Try as we might to avoid them, accidents do take place. Describe a time when you
were involved in an accident. Where and how did it take place? Describe the sights
and sounds in the aftermath of the accident. What was the outcome?
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5. Study the picture given below. Write a story or a description or an account of what it
suggests to you. Your composition may be about the subject of the picture or you may
take suggestions from it; however, there must be a clear connection between the
picture and your composition.

Question 2 [10]
(Do not spend more than 20 minutes on this question.)
Select any one of the following:
1. Write a letter to your friend thanking him/her for sending a gift to you by post on your
success in a Competitive Examination. Describe the gift and how contented you are
to receive it. Also mention what preparations/ effective study plan you made for the
Examination.

2. Write a letter to the Municipal Commissioner complaining about the insanitary

condition in your locality. Mention the inconveniences faced by the residents and
give some suggestions to overcome the problem.
Question 3
1. The Arts club of your school is organising a Painting Competition on the theme
‘Appreciation for cultural diversity is essential for co-existence.’ on the occasion
of Republic Day. Write a notice informing your school about the event. [5]

2. Write an e-mail to the principal of a neighbouring school informing him/her

of the event and requesting him/her to send a team of students to participate
in the event. [5]
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Question 4
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow:
Anil was asleep. I sat up on the floor, considering the situation. If I took the money, I
could catch the 10.30 Express to Lucknow. Slipping out of the blanket, I crept up to the
bed. Anil was sleeping peacefully. His face was clear and unlined; even I had more
marks on my face, though mine were mostly scars. My hand slid under the mattress,
searching for the notes. When I found them, I drew them out without a sound. Anil
sighed in his sleep and turned on his side, towards me. I was startled and quickly
crawled out of the room. When I was on the road, I began to run. I slowed down to a
walk and counted the notes: 600 rupees in fifties! I could live like an oil-rich Arab for a
week or two.

When I reached the station, I did not stop at the ticket office (I had never bought a 10
ticket in my life) but dashed straight to the platform. The Lucknow Express was just
moving out. The train had still to pick up speed and I should have been able to jump
into one of the carriages, but I hesitated — for some reason I can’t explain — and I
lost the chance to get away. When the train had gone, I found myself standing alone
on the deserted platform. I had no idea where to spend the night. I had no friends,
believing that friends were more trouble than help. And I did not want to make anyone
curious by staying at one of the small hotels near the station. The only person I knew
really well was the man I had robbed. Leaving the station, I walked slowly through the
bazaar. In my short career as a thief, I had made a study of men’s faces when they had
lost their goods. The greedy man showed fear; the rich man showed anger; the poor 20
man showed acceptance. But I knew that Anil’s face, when he discovered the theft,
would show only a touch of sadness. Not for the loss of money, but for the loss of trust.
I found myself in the maidan and sat down on a bench. The night was chilly — it was
early November — and a light drizzle added to my discomfort. Soon it was raining
quite heavily. My shirt and pyjamas stuck to my skin, and a cold wind blew the rain
across my face.

I went back to the bazaar and sat down in the shelter of the clock tower. The clock
showed midnight. I felt for the notes. They were damp from the rain. Anil’s money. In
the morning he would probably have given me two or three rupees to go to the cinema,
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but now I had it all. I couldn’t cook his meals, run to the bazaar or learn to write whole 30
sentences any more. I had forgotten about them in the excitement of the theft. Whole
sentences, I knew, could one day bring me more than a few hundred rupees. It was a
simple matter to steal — and sometimes just as simple to be caught. But to be a really
big man, a clever and respected man, was something else. I should go back to Anil, I
told myself, if only to learn to read and write. I hurried back to the room feeling very
nervous, for it is much easier to steal something than to return it undetected. I opened
the door quietly, then stood in the doorway, in clouded moonlight. Anil was still asleep.
I crept to the head of the bed, and my hand came up with the notes. I felt his breath on
my hand. Then my hand found the edge of the mattress, and slipped under it with the
notes. I awoke late next morning to find that Anil had already made the tea. He stretched 40
out his hand towards me. There was a fifty-rupee note between his fingers. My heart
sank. I thought I had been discovered. “I made some money yesterday,” he explained.
“Now you’ll be paid regularly.” My spirits rose. But when I took the note, I saw it was
still wet from the night’s rain. “Today we’ll start writing sentences,” he said. He knew.
But neither his lips nor his eyes showed anything. I smiled at Anil in my most appealing
way. And the smile came by itself, without any effort.

A Thief’s Story
by Ruskin Bond
(i) For each word given below choose the correct meaning (as used in the
passage) from the options provided: [3]
1. startled (line 6)
a) unworried
b) slightly frightened
c) fearless
d) something that helps you to not be distracted

2. My spirits rose. (line 43)

a) terrified.
b) incurious
c) became very hopeful
d) underwhelmed
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3. appealing (line 45)

a) attractive
b) Trying to attract
c) unpleasing
d) repulsive

(ii) Answer the following questions briefly in your own words.

a) What could have caused the scars on the narrator’s face? [2]
b) Did Anil realize that he was robbed? What was his reaction? [2]
c) Where did Anil keep the bundle of notes? [1]
d) What were the different reactions of people whom the narrator had robbed
previously? [2]
e) Why did not Anil hand the thief over to the police? [2]
(iii) In not more than 50 words, narrate what the narrator did after he went back to the
bazaar until he saw Anil again. [8]
Question 5
(i) Fill in each of the numbered blanks with the correct form of the word given in [4]
brackets. Do not copy the passage but write in correct serial order the word or phrase
appropriate to the blank space.
Example:
(0) There ____ (be) a shopkeeper named Ram Bharosa.
Answer: was
Biniya and her brother ____ (1) (use) to buy toffees from him. He saw Biniya’s umbrella and
wanted ______ (2) (own) it. He offered Biniya free toffees in exchange for the umbrella. But
Biniya’s love for the umbrella____ (3) (be) so strong that she refused to take the toffees.
Ram Bharosa got angry and asked his servant who was a little boy, to get the umbrella. When
the boy failed, he told Biniya’s brother that Ram Bharosa gave him the task of _____ (4)
(steal) the umbrella. Everyone in the village. ______ (5) (come) to know about what Ram
Bharosa ____ (6) (do) to Biniya. The villagers felt awful for the girl and started _____ (7)
(buy) things from another shop instead of Ram Bharosa’s shop. After some days, Binya’s
blue umbrella faded, it _____ (8) (have) the marks of stitches but still, it was the most
beautiful umbrella in the whole village.
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(ii) Fill in the blanks with appropriate words. [4]

a) Our car broke ______ at the side of the highway in the snow storm.
b) I threw the old chairs __ when we shifted to a new flat.
c) I came _______ these old photos when I was tidying the closet.
d) He succeeded _____ dint of perseverance and sheer hard work.
e) I have not slept ______ yesterday.
f) You have to check ______ of the hotel before 11:00 a.m.
g) She made us wait ______ 20 minutes.
h) He ran _____ full speed.

(iii) Join the following sentences to make one complete sentence without using [4]
and, but or so. Choose the correct option.

1. The well was deep. No one knew its depth.

a) No one knew how deep the well was.
b) No one knows how deep the well is.
c) No one knows the depth of the well.
d) No one knew the well was very deep.

2. Aruna did not accuse her sister. She did not accuse her friends
a) Neither Aruna accused her sister nor her friends.
b) Neither did Aruna accuse her sister nor her friends.
c) Either Aruna accused her sister or her friends.
d) Aruna accused her sister or her friends.

3. I lost my license. I applied for a new one.

a) I lost my license so I applied for a new one.
b) Since I lost my license, I applied for a new one.
c) Since I lost my license I applied for a new one.
d) I lost my license and I applied for a new one.

4. You need to reach the venue on time. Set the alarm early morning.

a) Unless you set the alarm early morning, you will not reach the venue on
time.
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b) Unless you set the alarm early morning, you will reach the hall on time.
c) You set the alarm early morning and you will reach the venue on time.
d) If you set the alarm early morning, you will not reach the venue on time.

(iv) Re-write the following sentences according to the instructions given after each.
Make other changes that may be necessary, but do not change the meaning of
each sentence. Choose the correct options. [8]

1. He said, “They will finish the project this year.”

(Begin: He said that…)
a) He said that they will be finishing the project this year.
b) He said that they would finish the project this year.
c) He said that they will finish the project that year.
d) He said that they would finish the project that year.

2. He was the most trusting person I had ever met.

(Use:never)
a) I have never met a more trusting person than him.
b) I had never met a more trusting person than he.
c) I have never met a more trusting person as him.
d) He had never met a more trusting person than me.

3. Although it was snowing. They went shopping.

(Begin: In spite. ...)
a) In spite the snow, they went shopping.
b) In spite of the snow they went shopping.
c) In spite of the heavy snow, they went shopping.
d) In spite of the snow, they went shopping.

4. Mango is juicier than guava.

(End. ........ mango)
a) Guava is not as juicy as mango.
b) No other fruit is juicier than mango.
c) Guava is juicier than mango.
d) Very few fruits are as juicy as mango.
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5. He liked my suggestion.
(Use: suggested)
a) He liked what I suggested.
b) He like what I suggested.
c) He like what I suggest.
d) I like what he suggested.

6. As soon as Usha recited the poem, she was given a standing ovation.
(Begin: Hardly. ... )

a) Hardly Usha had recited the poem when she was given a standing ovation.
b) Hardly Usha had recited the poem than she was given a standing ovation.
c) Hardly had Usha recited the poem when she was given a standing ovation.
d) Hardly had Usha recited the poem then she was given a standing ovation.

7. The house has been broken into by someone while the owners were on vacation.
(Begin: Someone………. )
a) Someone has broken in the house while the owners were on vacation.
b) Someone had broken into the house while the owners were on vacation.
c) Someone has broken into the house while the owner was on vacation.
d) Someone has broken into the house while the owners were on vacation.

8. Rishi drove too fast for the robber to catch. (Use: so …that.. )
a) Rishi drove so fast that the robber cannot catch him.
b) Rishi drove so fast that the robber will not catch him.
c) Rishi drove so fast that the robber could not catch him.
d) Rishi has driven so fast that the robber could not catch him.